'All behind' new restaurant plan on Market Strand

The man behind a new restaurant in Falmouth’s town centre has reassured councillors it will not be operated as a bar and will not be open after 11pm.

Nick Hodges has been granted planning permission to change the use of 6 Market Strand, which was formerly a frozen yoghurt shop damaged by fire in October 2012, and intends to open Fire Kitchen Bar and Grill in the near future.

Last week he appeared before Falmouth’s licensing sub-committee in relation to his application for a licence to sell alcohol and provide live and recorded music.

He told councillors: “I have no intention of being a live music venue, it could not be further from it.

“We had a business in the Newquay area and something we liked to do once a month maybe was have a guitarist sitting in the corner to give some atmosphere to the place.

“We do not want to be a bar, we just want to be able to offer a limited range of bottled beers and glasses of wine with food.

“We do not want a reputation, good or bad, of being a bar.

“We will be shut by 11pm, we don’t want to get into the late end of business, and on Sundays we will always be shut in the evenings.”

Councillors were told the plan was to play recorded tracks as background music and to have an acoustic guitarist performing between 2pm and 4pm on Sunday afternoons. Overall, the application is seeking consent to sell alcohol from noon until midnight, Monday to Saturday, and from noon until 7pm on Sundays.

Mr Hodge also wants to provide live music on Saturdays and on Sundays and also recorded music from 9am until 11pm, Monday to Saturday and from 9am until 7pm on Sunday.

The town council’s licensing sub-committee is supporting the application. Councillor Rowenna Brock told Mr Hodges: “We are all behind you. All the best.”